DEHRADUN: The incessant rainfall in Uttarakhand this monsoon season has caused damages worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore to roads, private buildings and agricultural land across the state. The death toll stemming from Monday's rain-related incidents has risen to 10 with the recoveries of these four bodies.
On Wednesday, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rescued 243 pilgrims trapped in a bridge collapse in the Rudraprayag district. They had been stranded on the trek route to Madmaheshwar temple since Monday. The operation went on for several hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. Many of the rescued passengers are from Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Nepal.
SDRF personnel were pressed into service and 190 pilgrims were airlifted by a helicopter on Wednesday, while 53 were evacuated on Tuesday through the rope river crossing method, the state disaster control room said on Wednesday evening.
“Most of the 250 pilgrims stranded on the second Kedar Madmaheshwar pedestrian route have been rescued by the teams of SDRF and local police,” SDRF PRO Lalita Negi told this newspaper. The state government has also roped in a helicopter to rescue stranded pilgrims. In the last five days, Khoh River and Behera Spring have caused havoc in Kotdwar and surrounding areas.
Incessant rains have been lashing various parts of the hill state causing landslides that demolished buildings and flooding rivers and streams whose swirling waters swept away people in separate incidents.
Rescuers have pulled out another four bodies, including those of a couple and their son, from the debris at a resort in Uttarakhand's Lakshman Jhula that was hit by a landslide following heavy rain on Monday. Two bodies were retrieved late on Tuesday and two others on Wednesday, the SSP Office in Pauri said.
The Night Paradise Camp resort in the Lakshman Jhula area of Pauri district was hit by a landslide on Monday. The six people inside the resort, when the incident occurred, were buried in the debris.
Similarly, a woman and her son, whose car was swept away by a flooded rain-fed stream in the Yamkeshwar area of Pauri district on Monday, are still missing.
(With additional inputs from PTI)